Action front armored vest



2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS ATTORNEY .RZp/z W pers l'co May l, 1956 R. W.PERSlCO ET AL ACTION FRONT ARMORED VEST Filed April 13, 1955 2Sheets-Shee't 2 zNvENTORs Rap WPersico ATTORNEY Louis CUQJ.

May 1, 1956 R, w. PERslco ET AL ACTION FRONT ARMORED vEsT Filed April13, 1953 United States PafifQ crIoN FRONT ARMoRED vEsT Ralphv W. Persicoand Louis Cugini, Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to the United States ofAmerica as represented by the Secretary of the Army` i vApplicationApril 13, 1953, Serial No. 348,601

1 claim. (C1. 2-2.s) (Granit-;d un Tifl'e 35, sl code (1952), sec. 266)disclosed in'the pending application of Russell W. Ehlers,

Ser. No. 291,366, filed on June 2, 1952, now Patent No. 2,640,987granted June 9, 1953.

In garments of this type the body of the garment iS relatively thickand/ or Stiff so that the wearer is considerably restricted in themovement of his arms, as for in- Stance in the handling of a rifle orthe like. It is an object of this invention therefore to so design andconstruct the garment that certain of the parts are readily movable withrespect to each other so that the wearefs arms are relatively free andmay be used in a more or less normal manner.

Another object of the invention consists in the formation of an armoredgarment in which a Vertical flap has one edge secured to the front ofthe garment at one side of the center opening and is provided withfastening means along its free edge for cooperation with complementaryfastening means situated on the garment on the opposite side of thecenter opening, whereby the front portions of the garment may slide oneupon the other in response to movements of the wearer's arms.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved garment in open position;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the armored vest in closedposition;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing the front panels andtheir connecting flaps in relative positions which they are caused totake when the arms of the wearer are brought toward each other;

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure4;

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail of the flap and the zippertype fastenerused for securing the garment in closed position;

Figure 7 is a plan view of a partly formed blank which is employed informing the garment shown in the several figures, and,

Figure 8 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Figure7.

The partly formed blank, which is generally indicated by the numeral 1,is composed of a back section 2 and a front section 3 provided withfront panels 4 and a neck opening 5.

Each of the Sections 2 and 3 is formed of a plurality of layers offlexible material of the general type defined ice in the Ehlersapplication heretofore referred to, and since this structure forms nopart of the present invention it need not be described in furtherdetail.

' AS will be obvious the armored vest illustrated in the presentdisclosure is formed by folding down the front panel portions 4-4 andsecuring their edges to the back 2 along the seams 6, as shown in Figure4, and these panels may be provided with pockets 7 if desired. Adjacenttheir free edges the front panels 4 are provided with Vertical linesl ofstitching 8 which provide the free edge portions; 9 Seamed at theiredges by lines of stitching as indicated by numeral 10. o

In order to Secure the front panels 4 in closed position a zipper 11 isemployed although it will be understood that other types of fasteningmeans could be used. However, if the fastening means Were secureddirectly to the adjoining edges of the relatively Stiff panels 4, whichprovide the front opening of thegarment, it will be obviouS that thewearer would have little use of his arms particularly in attempting tobring them toward each other as would be necessary in grasping a rifleor other implement. To obviate this drawback to a garment of this type aVertical flap 12 has been incorporated in the garment. This flap isrelatively thin and fleXible being shown as formed of two layers ofmaterial united adjacent their edges, and one edge of this flap issecured to the front face of a front panel 4 at a distance from its freeedge as indicated by the numeral 13. The free edge of the flap 12 hassecured thereto by lines of stitching 14 a runner 15 which carries aSeries of scoops 16.

Secured to the rear face of the other front panel 4 is a runner 17having a series of scoops 18 mounted on its free edge for cooperationwith the scoops 16. In normal positions of the parts, as shown inFigures 2 and 3, the panels 4 are slightly overlapped as clearlyindicated in Figure 3, it being only necessary to swing the frontelement 9 Slightly to one side for the Purpose of Operating the slide 19(Figure 2) which cooperates with the scoops 16-18.

This feature of placing one series of fastening means on the free edgeof the Vertical flap 12, which has substantial width, permits relativelateral movement of the panels 4-4 when the wearer moves his arms. Thisrelative movement between these parts of the garment is clearlyindicated by comparing elevational views of FigureS 2 and 4 andsectional views in Figures 3 and 5. In Figures 2 and 3 the garment isshown in its normal position with the front of the garment closed; whilein Figures 4 and 5 the front of the garment is still closed but the twoSections 4-4 have moved relative to each other so as to be verySubstantially -overlapped This movement of the two Sections has beencaused by the wearer bringing his arms closer together across his chestwhich movement has been permitted by reason of the flexible flap 12reversing its position.

The back Section 2 of the garment if formed of one single piece ofheavily laminated fabric would be extremely cumbersome. For instance, ifthe wearer of Such a garment were to lie prone on the ground there wouldbe a tendency for the upper edge of the back of the garment to be forcedagainst the base of the wearer's head with the attendant possibility ofknocking oif his helmet or other headgear which might be worn at thetime. In order to overcome this and other such difficulties the presentgarment is provided with the transversely extending flexible joint 20.This joint is clearly disclosed in Figure 8 in which the back 2 is shownas formed of upper and lower Sections arranged in overlapping conditionas indicated by numeral 21, and this sliding joint arrangement isinclosed with the fabric Sheets 22 which are sttched to both sides ofthe front and back elements as indicated by the numeral 23.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the aceompanyingdrawings, it Will be apparent to those skilled in the art that I havedevised an exceedingly simple and inexpenive construction of armoredvest which greatly enhances its value due to the faet that while thepanels thmselves are quite stff due to the many lay-. ers of materialthe garment has been rendered considerably more adaptable to movernentsof the Wearer than heretofore, due to the, novel arrangernent by whichrelative movernent between the panels is permitted.

ln accordance with the patent tatutes we have de scribed what we nowbelieve to be the preferred form of construction, but since minorchanges may be made in structural details without departing from thespirit of the invention it is intended that all such changes be includedwithin the scope of the appended clairn.

We clairn:

An armored vest comprising a back and front sec.- tions, the frontSections being secured to the back section and overlapping each other asubstantial distance with substantially the same as the length of thesection, fastener means mounted on and extending throughout the freeedge of the fiap, and complementary fastenng means secured to the outerface of the other front section, whereby a transverse sliding movementbetween the two Sections is permitted. i

References, Cited in the file of thistpatent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,093,792 Yengst t Sept. 21, 1937 2,493,531 Fitches Jan. 3, 19502,549,592 Ganz Apr. 17, 1951 2,585',175 Rosenberg Feb. 12, 1952

